A priest from Khabarovsk was again placed under administrative arrest due to a rally in support of Furgal

The Krasnoflotsky District Court of Khabarovsk sentenced Archpriest Andrei Vinarsky, who was detained two days ago, to three days of arrest. He was represented in court by a lawyer from OVD-Info, Andrey Demidov.

The clergyman was found guilty under the article of participation in an uncoordinated action that resulted in interference with the work of the city infrastructure (Part 6.1 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). The procession for which he was arrested took place on July 22, that is, more than four months ago.

This is the second administrative arrest of Andrei Vinarsky in a row. He was initially detained on November 26, and after a night in a special detention center he was given a day of arrest. Immediately after his release on November 27, he was detained again, and he again ended up in a special detention center. The current three-day arrest is calculated from the moment of the last arrest (November 27, 19:35 local time).

The priest himself also connects his persecution with his activities as a blogger covering protests.

Andrei Vinarsky was repeatedly detained in connection with rallies in support of Furgal. So, on November 19, the court fined him 10 thousand rubles under the article on violating the rules of participation in the action (Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code) in connection with the rally on September 15. In early November, the regional court upheld a fine for Vinarsky of 150 thousand rubles under the article on repeated violation of the rules of participation in a public event (Part 8 of Article 20.2 of the Administrative Code). Also in August, he was arrested for three days . The decision to arrest in September was canceled by the Khabarovsk Regional Court due to a violation of jurisdiction and sent the case to another district court.

• Since July 11, in the Khabarovsk Territory and other regions of the country, rallies have been held in support of the arrested ex-governor Sergei Furgal. Until approximately July 18, the Khabarovsk police made almost no attempt to interfere with the protesters, but later law enforcement officers began to detain the protesters. In the overwhelming majority of cases, they were detained after the protests, including on other days, right at home or at work, after which they were taken to police departments and courts, where they were fined or arrested. After the dispersal of the rally on October 10 in Khabarovsk, criminal cases were opened against several people: three under the article on the use of violence against a government official (Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code) and one under the “Dada” article on repeated violations of the procedure for holding public events (Article 212.1 UK).

• On July 9, the then-current governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Sergei Furgal, was detained by FSB officers on suspicion of involvement in a number of contract killings. He was taken to Moscow, where he was placed in custody. On July 20, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Furgal’s resignation from the post of governor and appointed Furgal’s LDPR party member Mikhail Degtyarev to this post as acting. In November, Furgal’s arrest was extended until March 2021, the meeting was held behind closed doors.